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Cats Movie Starring Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellan, Jennifer Hudson, Idris Elba, Taylor Swift

CuriousCaitian said:
Um...I was referring to Cats, as I'm pretty sure you were in the comment I quoted. :cardie:
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I talked about both. I just assumed you were referring to the last thing I said.

I’m bamboozled because I don’t know how they managed to screw up the the one thing that is probably universally praised about Cats (the Cats themselves,) and by how this ad is reaaaaaallly not setting people up for what Cats is actually like.

(Which is ‘What if A Chorus Line and The Nutcracker banged and produced a pretentious furry kitten?’, for the curious.)

Assuming it’s reasonably faithful to the show, anyways.
 
Reverend said:
The sleekness of the designs only compounds this. I only kinda half saw a video of the stage show the once, years back (a sister in-law was semi obsessed and wanted to share) but IIRC the stage costumes were a lot "fluffier" and seemed to mostly do an OK job of at least somewhat obfuscating the human form.
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The original costumes weren't completely fur covered, they had sections of the fur and the infamous leg warmers :) and they used black leotards that helped disguise the performers body shape.

But I guess part of the problem what worked on the stage probably doesn't carry across to a 40 foot screen or the fact the camera gets closer (whether zoom or physically) to the performers than the theatre goers ever did.

Guess the other option was to body edit the performers to smooth their bodies out but that probably wasn't practical.
 
I don't understand Cats despite having seen it performed onstage, and yet I'm intrigued by the trailer for this film version.

Hooper has proven that he can satisfactorily adapt a stage musical to the screen with Les Miserables, and since the filmic medium is more dependent on narrative than musical theater is, I think there's potential here to deliver something interesting.
 
FormerLurker said:
:eek: Really? I must have missed that. Unfortunately, I can't check, as I only have it on VHS, and don't have a working player. I'll have to look for her on youtube.
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Just checked the credit roll of my DVD to make sure I wasn't hallucinating it, and yep, both characters are in the filmed version. Rosemarie (I misspelled it the first time, to my shame) Ford as Bombalurina and Veerle Casteleyn as Jemima. The former most prominently duets Macavity with Demeter (Aeva May), and the latter joins in with Memory. Wish I could remember the touring version I saw more clearly for comparison, but it was at least a decade ago.

I think we can say that each version likes to mix up the characters a little, and there's no real hope of making sense of it. Just gotta roll with it, and hope for the best, which is definitely my approach to this new film.

And Hela, you still haven't answered my question, but I'm starting to think no-one truly can, as Cats is such a peculiar and seemingly quite subjective beast it's hard to think of a film approach that would work for most people. My personal opinion is that Hooper's approach is an interesting one with definite origins in the stage characters, and I'm willing to give it a chance. That said, I also fully respect it's off-putting to many, and if the production team do decide to rethink it, I'll accept that, too.

Gotta say, nice we can discuss these things (mostly) in good spirit. Wish more of the internet was like this.
 
Yeah, I've been a bit surprised too at just how nasty people are being towards it.
 
JD said:
Yeah, I've been a bit surprised too at just how nasty people are being towards it.
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probably a combination of two things - those who hate the musical and those who love the music but don't like what's been done to it.

Okay make that three things - it's the internet and the trolls have to shit on something or their day is wasted.
 
It's not just people on Twitter who had a collective - and grossly overexaggerated and hyperbolic - freakout over the character designs; critics and news agencies like CNN piled on with the "horrified reactions" too, which makes me just want to shake my head and go "you should seek some professional help".
 
When the worst habits of the new media meet the worst of the old. You'd think there were far more deserving targets for such outrage than a movie of a whimsical musical...
 
New trailer.
Is the whole thing with picking a cat to be reincarnated come from the musical, or is it something they added to give the movie a bit more story?
 
There is a new song written by Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber. In the movie it will be sung by a character named Victoria. Taylor sings the studio version. I may be biased but I think her vocals are insanely good!

The movie still looks awful and creepy though.

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I said this when the first trailer dropped, but Cats is a show that needed a lot of 'massaging' in order to work onscreen, and things like including dialogue, giving Macavity some actual motivation, being explicit about what the Jellicles are actually trying to do and what they're after, and creating new music go a long way towards doing that.
 
They've refined the look as I'd hoped, and as a result I like it even more. Always willing to give something properly different a chance, especially in the era of sequels, prequels, and ground retread so much it's almost worn through.

Personally, I'm now more interested in what @DigificWriter alluded to - story and character. For example, Jennyanydots seems markedly different from her stage incarnation. Good or bad? We shall see.

That song is a lovely, strong ballad, and very fitting of the Cats mood and feel. I honestly think I'm gonna enjoy this film. :-)
 
CuriousCaitian said:
Just checked the credit roll of my DVD to make sure I wasn't hallucinating it, and yep, both characters are in the filmed version. Rosemarie (I misspelled it the first time, to my shame) Ford as Bombalurina and Veerle Casteleyn as Jemima. The former most prominently duets Macavity with Demeter (Aeva May), and the latter joins in with Memory. Wish I could remember the touring version I saw more clearly for comparison, but it was at least a decade ago.
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Sorry I didn't respond to this earlier. I had checked my cast recording for the original Broadway show, and Jemima actually sings much of Victoria's part, including the "Memory" reprise. I get the feeling Jemima as a character won't be in this film, at least not like as portrayed by Veerle Casteleyn.

Janeway’s Girl said:
There is a new song written by Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber. In the movie it will be sung by a character named Victoria. Taylor sings the studio version. I may be biased but I think her vocals are insanely good!

The movie still looks awful and creepy though.

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If I recall correctly, Taylor Swift is playing Victoria. I couldn't find the post in this thread that says so, I think it might be on page one. As such, this is then a song added to give Victoria more story, and perhaps one similar to Grizabella's, based on what this song says. That would give the character that much more reason to join Grizabella in the "Memory" reprise, to boost Grizabella's spirits, and give her hope for rebirth.
 
FormerLurker said:
Sorry I didn't respond to this earlier. I had checked my cast recording for the original Broadway show, and Jemima actually sings much of Victoria's part, including the "Memory" reprise. I get the feeling Jemima as a character won't be in this film, at least not like as portrayed by Veerle Casteleyn.
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No problem. :)

Even more interesting. The Cats cast of characters is a flexible thing indeed, it appears. And agreed; Jemima certainly doesn't appear in IMDB's listing, for what that's worth.

DigificWriter said:
As was already said, ballerina Francesca Hayward is making her screen debut as Victoria.

The song that Taylor and ALW wrote is for Victoria, though, at least within the context of the film itself.
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I can see that causing confusion for more people than @DigificWriter. Be interesting to see if it's sung by Victoria in the film, or about her.

Random curiosity - IMDB lists Ray Winstone among the cast, as Growltiger. Yes, that Ray Winstone, master of hard-nosed East End gangster types. I admit, I struggle to imagine him singing and dancing, let alone swathed in digital fur. :cardie:
 
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